Austin's own television homecoming is going big for its 16th year, lining up reunions for Oz, Revenge and Band of Brothers alongside a Freaks and Geeks script reading and the return of its Indie TV Pilot Competition. The ATX TV Festival has built its reputation on bringing beloved casts and creators back together, and the 2027 lineup leans hard into nostalgia with a “Sweet 16” theme stacked across multiple decades of television.
According to Variety, the festival is set for June 3-6 in Austin, Texas. The celebration marks the festival's 16th season, and as previously reported by The Austin Chronicle, the event will celebrate anniversaries tied to Oz, Band of Brothers and Revenge all at once.
Oz Marks 30 Years With a Reunion of Oswald's Finest
HBO's Oz, which premiered in 1997 as the network's first one-hour drama and was set at the fictional Oswald State Correctional Facility, gets a 30th-anniversary celebration featuring creator Tom Fontana alongside cast members Rita Moreno, Lee Tergesen and Dean Winters, per Variety's reporting. Moreno portrayed Sister Peter Marie Reimondo, Tergesen played Tobias Beecher, and Winters brought Ryan O'Reily to life across the prison drama's run, according to the Chronicle. Fontana has said he is thrilled to participate in the festival and reunite with his former cast members, the Chronicle reports.
Band of Brothers, meanwhile, marks its own milestone. The HBO limited series, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and born from their collaboration on Saving Private Ryan, premiered in 2001, according to Variety. Variety notes the series debuted on September 9, 2001, framing the panel as a look back at the 10-part saga. Panelists for that retrospective have not yet been announced, both outlets confirm.
Revenge Brings Its Hamptons Elite Back Together
Revenge, ABC's reimagining of The Count of Monte Cristo set among modern Hamptons elites, premiered in 2011 and is getting its own reunion courtesy of creator and executive producer Mike Kelley. The retrospective will include cast members Emily VanCamp, Josh Bowman, Henry Czerny, Ashley Madekwe, Gabriel Mann, Connor Paolo and Nick Wechsler, Variety reports. Kelley has said he is extremely excited about the ATX TV Revenge party, adding that fans continue to love the show's characters even after many years, according to the outlet's report.
Freaks and Geeks Reading Joins a Tradition of Script Revivals
The festival will also feature a live script reading of Freaks and Geeks, the short-lived series credited with launching the careers of Paul Feig, Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Martin Starr, per the Chronicle. A cast for the reading has not yet been announced. Variety reports the reading will be followed by a conversation touching on the series' enduring influence, television's shifting formats, and the importance of young-adult and teen stories.
Live script readings aren't new territory for ATX TV. The festival has previously honored The Golden Girls, I Love Lucy and Good Times with similar events, according to the Chronicle, and austintexas.org notes the 2026 festival featured an I Love Lucy 75th Anniversary Live Script Reading as part of a packed lineup.
Casting Legend Allison Jones Joins for a Career Conversation
The 2027 program will also include a career conversation with casting director Allison Jones, who worked on Freaks and Geeks and has helped assemble ensembles for Parks and Recreation, The Office, Veep, Arrested Development, The Good Place and Widow's Bay, the Chronicle reports. Variety adds that Jones will join the festival for the first time to share a look inside her process of building an iconic ensemble, with credits including Boy Meets World alongside the others.
Indie Pilot Competition Returns With Macaroni Art Productions
Beyond the reunions, ATX TV is holding a new season of its Indie TV Pilot Competition in 2027, with scripted and unscripted categories open to entrants. Macaroni Art Productions returns as a strategic partner and advisor for the competition, with Rick Gomez and Steve Zahn serving as strategic partners and advisors, according to the Chronicle. Variety frames it as the competition's second year running with that partnership in place.
Per the competition's own page on atxfestival.com, submissions are open worldwide to creators 18 and older, with a regular deadline of December 18, 2026, and a $65 fee per pilot. The contest accepts completed pilot episodes between 20 and 65 minutes across scripted and unscripted genres, and selected pilots will be announced April 20, 2027. At least two selected pilots will be screened for the festival's audience, with judges then choosing up to two winners from those screened pilots across the two categories, the Chronicle notes. Submissions go through atxtvfestival.com.
The competition traces back to ATX TV founding it in direct response to the growing practice of independently produced television series, according to IndieWire. That outlet notes Showtime's Work in Progress, FX's Mr. Inbetween, Starz's America to Me and Netflix's The Night Logan Woke Up all began as independent TV offerings before reaching broader platforms. Mark Duplass and Duplass Brothers Productions also served as strategic advisors to the competition's inaugural 2026 program, per the same report.
The festival's growth reflects a broader shift in how ATX TV operates. What started as a festival-only experience is now expanding into a year-round model called ATX TV, according to ATX Woman. The outlet notes the first festival in 2012 drew just 700 people over 36 hours, a figure that has since grown to 5,000 attendees across four days.
